Ricardo Mangual

Protecting & Restoring Blue Carbon Ecosystems

We work to protect and restore coastal ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems for the sustainable provision of ecosystem services to people and environment.

Mangroves and seagrass meadows are coastal ecosystems that cover a small portion of the total ocean area but collectively are widely distributed on every continent except Antarctica. Mangroves are found in 123 countries worldwide with an estimated area of 15.2 million hectares while seagrasses occur in 159 countries covering over 30 million hectares. These ecosystems are highly productive and form biologically rich habitats that play a major role in providing highly valuable ecosystem goods and services for human well-being.

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Five ways often-unheralded seagrasses boost biodiversity

Seagrasses are one of the most widespread marine ecosystems on Earth, covering around 300,000 km2 of seabed in 159 countries. 

Monochromatic seagrass meadows may not be as colourful as coral reefs or as…

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Protecting and restoring blue carbon ecosystems

To this end, we work with a wide variety of stakeholders and partners that help protect these coastal ecosystems including but not limited to:

News and Multimedia

Check out our latest multimedia resources and press releases/stories.

Publications

Mangroves and seagrasses are amongst the coastal systems ecosystems that face the highest rates of loss globally, with estimated annual losses of 1 - 3% of mangrove area and 2 - 5% of seagrass area. Check out our latest reports and publication.

Contact Us:

Sinikinesh Beyene Jimma

Ecosystems Division

Marine and Freshwater Branch

UN Environment Programme

United Nations Avenue, Gigiri

P. O. Box 30552, 00100

Nairobi, Kenya

Email: sinikinesh.jimma@un.org